Pantaleimon

BIOGRAPHY

PANTALEIMON (pan-ta-lay-mon) is the pseudonym of English musician and songwriter Andria Degens (dee-jens). The use of the name Pantaleimon was inspired by Lyra's dæmon portrayed in the 'Northern Lights' trilogy by Philip Pullman. Her records are "Trees Hold Time" (1999), "Change My World" (2002), "Cloudburst"(2005), "Mercy Oceans"(2007), "Heart Of The Sun" (2008), "Tall Trees" (2008), 'Live In Barcelona' (2009).

Pantaleimon create simple, haunting and beautiful music, somewhere between meditative and psychedelic. The first album, 'Trees Hold Time', was directly inspired by Andria's experiences during the two and half years she spent travelling throughout South East Asia and is mostly instrumental.

By her second album 'Mercy Oceans', 5 years later, Andria found her voice. Andria says "after 'Trees Hold Time' I felt I had nothing else to give to the world musically, but then in 2005 the channel opened again and out came the material for 'Cloudburst' and 'Mercy Oceans' ". Since that time Pantaleimon have been relatively prolific in their releases.

Andria Degens has contributed to and collaborated with Hugo Race, Jeff Zentner, Current 93 ('Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain' & 'Black Ships Ate The Sky'), Strings of Consciousness, Susan Stenger's (Band of Susans) 'Soundtrack For An Exhibition', Irr. App. (Ext.), Nurse With Wound and Marc Pilley's Hobotalk. And a long time ago Andria appeared with the band Wire (live at the Clapham Grand, 1992), and on The Dirty Three's 'Horse Stories' album in 1996. Pantaleimon have contributed music to Cam Archer's film 'Wild Tigers I Have Known' and Andria has just recently narrated a short film for Cam (which featured on the Cinemad Almanac 2009 DVD). Electronic Voice Phenomenon voted Pantaleimon's 'We Love' video by Cam Archer as their 'Video of the Week'.

Pantaleimon have performed throughout Europe at shows with Antony & the Johnsons, Baby Dee, Lightning Bolt, James Blackshaw, Six Organs Of Admittance, Current 93, 16 Horsepower, Matt Sweeney and Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

'Heart of the Sun', released in 2008 features remixes of all the songs from 'Mercy Oceans' by artists such as Andrew WK, Stephen O'Malley, CarterTutti, Lilum, and Fovea Hex as well as many others. 'Heart of the Sun' also includes four exclusive tracks, one of which is a collaboration with the band Strings of Consciousness, and another is a cover of Bonnie "Prince" Billy's 'Even If Love'.

A limited edition CD EP, entitled 'Tall Trees', is available from Abaton Book Company. Recorded in the summer of 2007 and released in 2008, A beautiful and other-wordly 10 minute vignette.

Now. Pantaleimon are working on a new album, co-creations, narrations, and generally getting up to no good.

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MUSIC

Strange and gorgeous, The Butterfly Ate the Pearl is an excellent calling card for an artist to whom attention must be paid. Conjuring a classically pure and modern minimalist sound refreshingly free of cloying cliche, balancing diverse instrumentation.

'Mercy Oceans' is focused, crafting meditative arrangements from skeletal acoustics and gentle haunting vocals. It exists in a spiritual hinterland, dancing in the half light before dawn; a magical time between waking and sleeping - Jennifer Allan, Wire M

Lush, spacious, mountain-flavoured folk guitar playing. This is reminiscent of Will Oldham's 'Ode Music' album from a few years back. The Jessica Bailiff-esque final track is fitted with vocals and eastern drone effects - spectral and psychedelic stuff. -